Posted on 05/17/2007 9:17:42 PM PDT by BraveMan
Waukesha - A Menomonee Falls man whose garage was heavily damaged earlier this year in a fire told investigators the blaze was divine comeuppance for his installation of an illegal natural gas bypass that enabled him to heat the building for free, according to a criminal complaint filed today.
"I think the fire was God's way of punishing me for stealing the gas," Ricky E. Adair told police, according to the complaint.
The complaint charges Adair, 44, with a felony theft count estimating that the garage gas he got for free between January 2001 and Jan. 26, 2007, was worth between $5,258 and $8,462.
The situation at Adair's home was discovered on Jan. 26 when firefighters were summoned to extinguish a blaze in his detached 30-foot by 30-foot garage on Marcy Road, according to the complaint, which gives the following account:
Firefighters summoned We Energies personnel to the scene because they were unable to stop the flow of gas to the garage during the blaze at the meter and concluded that gas was still flowing somehow and fueling the fire. A utility crew was able to stop the flow to the garage by digging a hole and cutting off the flow at the street.
When Adair was asked how the gas was still flowing when the valve on the meter was closed, he admitted installing a bypass several years earlier.
"I thought it was an easy way to tap into it," he said, according to the complaint. But the fire convinced him that he'd done wrong.
Adair explained that a torch he had been using in the garage that day ignited a rag and that a series of steps he took to put out the fire failed, leading him to conclude he was being punished for the bypass.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Lord, I beseech thee. Please don't torch my garage!
You may be vaguely interested in this . . .
Shoot, it's hard enough to keep the wife and kids from finding it, if it's in the garage...
gotta go...
see y’all tomorrow
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